Five detained in hacking of Qatar News Agency

Qatar’s attorney general said Turkey has detained five suspects in connection with the hacking of Qatar’s state news agency in May.

“Five people involved in the hacking are now being interrogated”, HE Dr al-Marri stated while adding that all the details regarding the subject will be announced once the investigation is over, QNA reported.

Marri said in a statement carried by QNA that the arrests have come as result of security cooperation between Doha and Ankara to combat cyber crime.

The statements were quickly taken down. “The prosecutors in Qatar are working with the Turkish authorities to follow the case”, he said in comments published by the Qatar News Agency (QNA). Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates severed ties with Qatar in June over comments briefly posted on the Qatar News Agency attributed to its ruler in which he allegedly praised their arch-foe Iran. Five people were detained and they are being investigated.

However no details have been provide by the Qatari or Turkish authorities as to the identity of the arrested persons and their links to the QNA hacking.

Turkey has backed Doha throughout the standoff.

The attack on the website of QNA started as early as April 19 when professional hackers began to scan the site using VPN programmes to look for loopholes in the system, the technical investigation team of the MoI revealed.

The Washington Post, quoting unnamed United States intelligence officials, reported that the UAE orchestrated the hacking and planted a false story that was used as a pretext for the crisis between Qatar and four Arab countries.